Pam Padgett - teacher
After we are
born again we find that we no longer fit in with those of the world. We
seek to please God, to do His will, and don't fit in with those who know and seek after only
things of the world. Our flesh may still want to be part of the group, but we don't really "belong" or
"fit in" with them.
Although we no longer belong with those of the world, we belong to God. We have been specifically chosen by God out of the world to be His children.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own:
but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again
to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we are the children of God:
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and
whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
And God has set us in the body of Christ as HE has chosen. We
"fit in", not with those of the world, but in the body of Christ functioning together with those chosen by God in the way that pleases God.
1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members,
and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also
is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have
been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one
member, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I
am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear
shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it
therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were
the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
We are different from those of the world, for we are new creatures having the Holy Spirit living in us.
And although we don't belong or fit in with the world, we belong to God
and fit together with those chosen by God, led by His Spirit, to do His will.